


The Ebb and The Sway

by resqueln



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-28
Updated: 2010-07-28
Packaged: 2017-10-22 22:10:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/243120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/resqueln/pseuds/resqueln
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set around season 4.  In which nothing gets solved or happens but things are better between them for it anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ebb and The Sway

The Kansas sun beats down on the endless plains, cooking the blacktop and bleaching the rocks. Sam slumps in the passenger seat, window down and head turned to the wind that rushes in. Sweat beads on his skin and crawls down his back, dampening his shirt and making it cling along his spine. He shifts against the leather of the seat, sees his brother glance at him through his shades and then back at the road.

Dean looks as uncomfortable as Sam feels, tee plastered to his torso and sweat drops pooling on his upper lip. His cheeks are pink and his lips flushed dark. Sam licks his own, parched lips unconsciously, shifts and lets his legs fall further open. Dean glances over again.

“You want to stop?”

“Maybe in a bit,” Sam murmurs and lets his gaze slide out of the window.

Dean doesn’t respond, just fixes his eyes back on the road. It’s too hot for conversation, even if they had anything to say. Their silence sits between them, weighted with months of discord.

They stop in the barest hint of shade cast by the wall of an abandoned barn, that Dean drove an extra mile to find for the Impala. The noon sun wheels overhead, leaving no other shade for them except a narrow sliver under the remains of the barn’s roof.

Desperation to escape the intensity of the day outweighs the awkwardness and they press together to fit the dark strip of shadow. Dean’s body feels almost cool against his, compared to the heat. Sam shifts restlessly, ignoring the slick of sweat between their skins where they touch.

“Stop moving,” Dean grumbles at him, half asleep.

They sleep for hours.

When Sam wakes up, his thirst is terrible. Dean is still sprawled next to him, his breathing light and his cheeks pink where he’s caught the sun. The air is fresher now that the sky has an evening tint to it, the world seems gentler. Sam feels human once more.

Dean awakes when Sam moves for the water bottle. He takes a swig, hands it to his brother wordlessly. They sit in silence for a while, passing water back and forth like liquor. Outside, the fields hum with cricket song.

“Got a while to go before we find food,” Dean says eventually.

Sam nods agreement, neither of them moves. They eat rations as the sun sets then sit a while longer, shoulder to shoulder, watching the stars bright above them.

Sam focuses on a faint point of light, a satellite, as it falls steadily across the sky. The inexorability of its path, ever falling towards the horizon, makes him uncomfortable. He looks away, awkwardly aware of the day coming to an end and the reality of their lives, of heaven and hell, waiting for them.

Dean’s shoulder presses against his own, the briefest of touches before Dean gets to his feet.

“C’mon, Sam,” he says.

Tucked away in the shade, the car has cooled off since morning, the air no longer sitting as heavily between them. Dean hits the headlights, beams slicing through the darkness. Led Zeppelin starts up with the ignition, mid-way through ‘Ten Years Gone’. Dean hums along as they pull back onto the dirt track, relaxed in the driver’s seat, fingers loose around the steering wheel. He looks almost content and it brings a lump to Sam’s throat. He swallows against it.

“Dean?” He says.

“Yeah?” Dean looks over, his expression unguarded.

Sam blinks and shuts his mouth against the million things he wants to say to his brother, none of which he has words for. He shakes his head.

“Nothing,” he says, sounding young even to his own ears.

“Go to sleep,” Dean tells him.

Sam does. They drive on.

Fin


End file.
